Control the lighting centrally with your tablet, switch the heating on and off while you're on the move, program the shutters and control the music throughout the house via app - the smart home means more living comfort with lower consumption costs. As part of the CES technology trade fair in Las Vegas, new smart home assistants with voice control were presented that are intended to make life even easier for users at home.
Smarter living in the smart home
The advantages of home automation are obvious: vibration sensors on the windows sound an alarm in the event of forced entry, intelligent lighting systems help save electricity, and the new smart home assistants make everyday life easier using voice commands. However, in order to ensure compatibility, the individual components of a smart home system should be coordinated with each other as best as possible so that they can be controlled centrally. Think about areas of application and personal preferences in advance and consider potential expansion with additional functions in the future. More aboutHome automation at Reichelt.de.
Amazon's Alexa controls the home
What Siri does on the iPhone is comparable to Amazon's Echo speaker for the home. Except that with the adaptive speaker assistant Alexa, the star of this year's CES, you can also control your networked home via voice command. With the right components, Alexa becomes the operating system for the smart home: thanks to collaborations with manufacturers such as Tado, Netatmo and Philips Hue, the heating thermostats as well as all of the lighting in the house can be controlled. The assistant responds to voice commands such as “Alexa, turn on the light”. She answers questions, provides information about the news, reads recipes while cooking and, if desired, plays your favorite music from Amazon Music, Spotify and Co.
Google Home: Always oneAnswerready
The Internet giant Google has also developed Google Home, a smart home assistant that is built into a wireless speaker with room-filling sound and is very similar to Amazon's Alexa. Google Home has the right answer to almost every question - no wonder given the mass of data collected by Google that the system can use. Like its Amazon counterpart, Google Home plays music from common streaming services and uses voice recognition to make everyday life easier.
The cute oneDomestic robotsOn
Kuri is a small robot developed by the Bosch-funded US start-up Mayfield Robotics. The cute little guy makes noises, comes up when you call “Hey Kuri” and recognizes familiar faces – there are full HD cameras built into his eyes. Controlling smart home components via voice should also be possible in the near future. First and foremost, Kuri is a type of modern pet that can be taught simple commands and will be particularly popular with children.
